Disc Gator Giveaway!

[goosefraba1]

Found a disc in the creek last year. Saw it out in the middle about 1/4th of a mile from the nearest hole. I jumped in (water was only 3 feet deep) and grabbed the disc. Turned out to be our club president's disc. I debated on giving it back to him in the same swampy condition that I found it in.... but I am nice. I cleaned it up and returned it. Always nice to have a long branch or something to help you snag one out.

 

[SirWalter]

The Life of an Intermediate Golfer:

 

[Archangel442]

It was November in Northern Kentucky. Cold, low 40's... dropped below freezing just the next week. I was feeling like I was good at this game, so I ventured out to Idlewilde. It was as early as hole 2 that the course began proving to me I was wrong. My favorite disc, a bright pink, factory second apache landed about 20 feet into the lake. I had with me a golf ball retriever of exactly that length. I could see my disc sitting on the seaweed at the bottom, and managed to get under it. I started pulling it in when the unthinkable happened: it fell off my retriever and disappeared under the weeds. Try as I might, I could not get back to it. I even went knee deep in the water to try to drag it in, but alas, to no avail. I went out and made a rake on a rope to try to drag it in. I found 13 discs over the rest of that week, but not mine. Come spring I went into the lake 4 times trying to find it... I never did. It was my first lost disc, and the one that has pained me the most.

 

[DerekTonn]

I had a light blue Pro Katana that was fast becoming my go-to driver off the tee. Playing Mound Creek County Park in SW Minnesota, I ripped one of the best (at that time) drives of my life off the Hole 1 tee. Big, beautiful line...that unfortunately caught the crosswind just right and glided about 50 feet long/left of the basket. Right into the nastiest patch of thorny bushes on the course.

I looked for that thing for what had to be 15+ minutes...to no avail. My shirt was ripped. I was bleeding (in 3-4 places). But everywhere I looked, no sign of it. I didn't want to hold up my buddy any longer, as the sun was quickly sinking in the Western sky...so I quietly, reluctantly accepted my fate, thanked the DG gods for sharing the best driver I had ever thrown, and moved on.

That course is closed roughly half the year...so even though I still (really) missed that disc on the tee, I couldn't go look for it anymore. We went through a rough winter of snow and ice, and after the snow melted and the County opened the property in the Spring, I went out to play the course again.

The very-first round I played on the course the next year, my buddy says "I've got something you're gonna like." And he digs out...my light blue Katana! He had found it in those thorns in a round he played just days earlier...and I felt whole again! That disc was $$$. If I needed a long S-curve off the tee, it was just the absolute best. Beaten-in JUST right. Fast-forward to last Fall. I'm playing courses en-route to South Carolina for work, and I'm trying to squeeze a round in at Waterloo Exchange Park in Iowa. The sun is already low in the sky, so I'm sprinting between shots (27 holes).

I get to a hole by the Pond, and the head wind is fierce! I'm about ~250 feet out, and I know I really need a $$$ S...so I reach for my $$$ disc. I throw it...and it bends right, bends left, and...uh oh. The nose of the disc starts to flutter in the wind, and then takes a hard right turn. Splash. About 15 feet off shore. The sun's going down, I've got more than half a course left to play, and my everything on the tee is now in the pond. It's October, and the water is, ahem, "refreshing!" But I climb into the Pond and do my darnedest to try and find it. I looked and felt around with my feet until the sun was actually beginning to set! But no luck.

I sat on the shore...bummed out at losing my $$$ driver, again. But I also was thankful. Thankful for all the great shots/memories. So after a few impromptu "moments of silence," I got my shoes and socks back on, said "thanks" and "goodbye" to my Katana, and ran through the remaining holes (the last 3-4 basically played in the dark).

So if any of you are from Waterloo and play that course, and happen to come across a light blue Katana in that big pond, I'd LOVE it back. Only I don't think I'd ever throw it again. It's earned a place on my wall. If I could ever see it again. So many war wounds, nicks, discolorations (after a full Winter in the thorns/snow). But the memories I have associated with that disc are priceless.

 

[4th Rock]

The course I normally play has a fairly large creek running through the length of it. It took me a log time to lose a disc, since I'd hunt for what i lost in the woods until I find it. In this instance, I FH'd a Champ Boss incorrectly over the longest hole on the course, and the disc rewarded my poor form by executing a turn and burn way off to the left, right over and into the creek channel.

Disc retriever couldn't find it. After 7 months, it finally got warm enough to dive in, and after 2 hours I pulled it out if the deepest, nastiest part of the creek. Branches, debris, and angry turtles littered the creek bed 10 feet under the surface, and my disc had made a home right in the middle of it all.

BTW, it's a tad unsettling when you're 10 feet underwater feeling around for a disc, and the rock you just grabbed onto starts swimming away...

 

[pfpro]

Got a firebird X-out that completely changed my game - early on, OH throws were a staple. On my home course, there is 1 water hole (which isn't much more then. 30" drainage collector). Took a drive from the tee, bounced off a tree on the other side of the fairway, rolled and guess what? I found it. Spent 30 minutes poking around with a stick, couldn't find it. Came back with my daughters (let's go play disc golf with daddy) on the weekend in shorts. Found it with my toes.

Fastforward 2 months, was playing in a November rain. Throw same disc on a water hole at a different course - clear the water, but put the disc about 40' up in a pine tree on the edge of the pond. Spend 20 minutes throwing rocks at it. Finally get it, only to have it drop into the pond. It's "right" offshore, but dragging sticks doesn't get me anything. I take my jeans off and jump in. Again I find it with my toes. Everyone was so shocked that I jumped in, no one remembers to pull their phone and immortalize it ( which I am thankful for). It was a very damp rest of the round.

It's been over 2 years, and I still bag that disc (plus several back-ups!). The disc gator would have been helpful too me! I would definitely carry one strapped to the side of my bag...

 

[laramiecarlson]

This story is kind of about a retrieval of a disc.
A few winters back I was playing Goldie's (a private course up near Duluth) Hole 11. This hole is a straigh shot off of a cliff, down a river to a basket about 250' away. I threw my new brainwaved white GL river down there and turned it over way too bad. I couldn't find it and sadly moved on. Most discs get returned from this course unless you're the local who steals discs.... *scowl*

Months pass and I'm hanging in my apartment in July and I get a call from an unknown number.
"Hi."
"Is this Laramie?"
"Yes."
"I have a disc of yours, I'm down at the Rose Garden, can you meet me here?"
"Sure." I replied
I had no clue why someone had my disc at the Rose Garden. The closest course was 10 miles away, and 20 away from where I had lost it.
I biked down to the Rose Garden and there was a lakewalk park ranger standing there with a disc. I immediately recognized it from the bright outer rings and approached him. He told me he had found it behind the bathrooms, in a tree.
The disc now rests on my mantel at my house, probably to never be thrown again. I tell everyone that I must have shanked it really bad.

 

[slicknic007]

I play a course here in Ohio that has 2 water holes close to the fathest point away from the parking lot as you can get. To make matters worse, it is a stagnant creek that is deep enough to sink up to my chest and I'm 6'3". We try to retrieve discs with sticks but most of the time that involves walking out on logs and hoping not to fall in. I broke down finally and bought a oair of chest waders. Downside is, i don't want to play around in them and they are too bulky to carry them with me. So on a few occasions, I have been playing with friends and the lost discs in the water. We could see where they were but they weren't reachable without the waders. We decided to come back with them after we finished the round. Sadly, again on multiple occasions, when we got back with the waders, someone had already fished them out and we never did get a call about finding the discs. This disc gator, if it can extend decently long, would be great because i could carry it around with me and not have to risk somebody stealing our discs before we get back.

 

[chalos13]

Magic Disc

I'd been playing a couple years, was a bogey (or double bogey player) for sure. Had a handful of discs, but then one day I found a Tie-Dye Pro Wraith in the water, with no name no number on the back. Checked the parking lot for other golfers, no one, so I took it home. Fell in love with the Wraith, it became my go to driver. Fast forward a few months later, I'm at UT Tyler in Texas with my best friend and brother in law as witnesses, and hit my first ace on a 320 foot hole. Perfect moment, with witnesses, best day ever. A couple months later I throw it at The ROC in Tyler and lose it in the tall briars next to hole 14. We search for longer than was fair to the rest of my group, and give up. The magic had moved on for another player to find. Six months later, long enough that I'd forgotten about it, I get a call that someone found my disc at The ROC. I met them and there it was, my magic disc. I tipped the guy, because PEOPLE WHO CALL THE NUMBERS ON DISCS ARE AWESOME! :clap::clap::clap:
Now my magic disc lives on a shelf, replaced in my bag by a heavy Star Wraith and a light, understable Blizzard Wraith. It found me twice, got me my first ace, throwing it more would only tempt fate to take it away from me again.

 

[Amorybulldog]

Lost Forever Disc

What is now hole 10 on our course in Amory, MS used to be hole 4. The basket sat at the end of nice fairway only to have a creek behind it about 12 feet or so. With this hole not being very long that creek has eaten several discs. After losing one of my favorite discs, Z Avenger SS in there I decided to go in after it. This creek is joined by a drainage ditch right at the exact spot that swallows discs. I figured I get a little wet so left all the valuables in the bag on the creek bank and went in with just shorts on. As I started walking in the sandy bottom gave way and I found myself up to my neck in water almost instantly, surprised I didn't go under. Found at least 6 discs that day by swimming to the bottom and sliding my hands around. Unfortunately none were my disc. Crazy thing is that this hole is no there anymore, a recent change in the water flow by the core of engineers caused it to fill in with sand. Now that same creek is about 6 inches deep of clear water during the summer. It filled the hole in with one good rain. Just goes to show the power of erosion/water. That was a lot of sand to fill that hole in. Being over 6'ft tall I guess I can say that disc is now 6 feet under and mean it.

 

[dtcrockett]

disc in a place you can't put your hand

This happened to a couple of friends.

Playing at a disc golf course that is placed in the back half of a city park. This park is frequently occupied with all sorts of non disc golfers. Anyway my friend throws his newish JK Valk (this was a while ago) and it lands close to a park denizen. This creep promptly grabs the disc and stuffs it under his shirt. My friend demands his disc back, the guy refuses and things verge on the physical. The creep has more backup so my friend walks away.

But my friend is angry enough to call the cops. The cops are trying to clean this park up, and show up promptly. The cops march over the hill, and catch the creep with the disc under his shirt. It turns out that the creep has outstanding warrants. So my friend gets his disc back, and the creep goes to jail.

I'm not certain how the Disc Gator could have been useful in this case. I guess my friend could have used it to try and reach under the creep's shirt, or maybe as some sort of weapon.

 

[Wilson]

I could have used a Gator....

I just lost my first disc. An Innova Star Wraith. At Prado Dam in Chino. The infamous hole #7. Over 520 ft par 3. Around the lake's edge. I ripped a great drive, then used my steady Wraith as the approach shot. Beautifully-wrapped throw, narrowly clipped the reeds at land's edge and sat. I arrived to see it sitting up on a small patch of waste reed. Teasing me. Reclaimed water and unknown depths 12 feet away. Wasn't going to risk wading in after it. Got the park rangers to "help". They had a hook taped to a pole, just long enough. The gal wouldn't let me use it first. She was aggressive and didn't realize discs sink to the bottom. And it sank..... I could have used a Gator....

 

[rooktheklown]

First trip to Maple Hill in Leicester, MA, with a couple friends, one of whom got me started in the sport. We walk up to the first hole, which has a fairly big pond to throw over. My buddy steps up, and first throw - right in the pond. He's not happy, but pulls out a 2nd disc to try again, this time his favorite driver (Raging Inferno). Again, right into the pond. At that point my other friend decides to be crazy enough jump in after them (it was a cold day, and first hole - the rest of us didn't want to suffer all day). Twenty minutes later he's pulled 3 discs from the water, none of them ours. After that, he gave up and we never saw that Raging Inferno again.

Later on in the day, the same friend tried another risky shot by water, and lost a 3rd disc. He was so pissed that day.

 

[DiscGolfJunky]

If I only had a disc gator just two short months ago…

My wife and I are relatively new to the sport, having played our first round in November, 2013. Needless to say, we were quickly addicted. Our home course is Jenkins Park in Baytown, TX. There on hole #5 is a drive across a deep channel with nasty, murky water. The first few times I did that hole, I used a floating Dragon but as my confidence grew, I decided that I could throw my favorite disc, a blue/green Archangel. First mistake.

It landed in the water about four feet away from the bank. After working our way down to the water's edge, I saw that I would need a stick or something to aid in the retrieval. I didn't really want to climb back up the bank and back down again so I got the bright idea to use my wife as a pole. Second mistake.

I assured my wife that she would be fine and I held onto her hand as she leaned out across the mossy water. Lower and lower I guided her until she was just about nose to water. She reached out and grabbed my disc. At this point, I realized that lowering her was a lot easier than bringing her back up again. I tried adjusting my foot for leverage. Third mistake.

Panic struck me as the rock under my foot shifted. In slow motion I saw my wife's hand slip from my own, her face plant into that stagnant, snaky water and then her body completely submerge. In a sudden return to normal speed, she came up out of that water like Poseidon rising from the depths. Her wet hair framed a scowl that would send any creature running for safety. My disc in her hand was like a scepter ready to blast me into oblivion. I quickly helped her up the steep, muddy embankment as I awaited my sentence. "I'm sorry baby. The rock slipped…"

"I don't want to hear it!" She shouted. Game over. Three days later she was finally speaking to me again, although she hasn't played disc golf with me for a month. Oh, if I only had that disc gator.

 

[nrp0450]

I had just started playing disc golf. It came time for a quick trip to go see family in Nacogdoches, TX. My brother in law and I knew there was a course there so we took our discs. We were going to try and get a round in at Pecan Park. It had rained the night before and we hadn't really brought clothes for getting dirty. So my wife tried to talk us out of it. But I said we'd skip any holes that had a lot of mud.

Hole 1 went fine. Hole 2 is a shot that runs parallel to a creek. I wasn't confident enough in my throw to stay out of the creek so I threw my brand new Dragon, which is a floater. Of course my shot hooked left and flew straight into the creek. Normally the creek is only a few inches deep and the water is hardly moving. But not so on that day. I ran over to see my disc already headed downstream out of sight. I told my BIL to chase it on the side we were already on and I ran across a big water/sewer pipe to the other side. Both banks of the creek are overgrown with underbrush and trees and such. So it was not easy to catch up to the disc. I did manage to get close enough to it touch it with a branch but couldn't get it to the bank (A gator would have been handy for sure).

Further downstream I got close again but no joy. Then the disc crossed to the other side well out of my reach. I had to take a detour away from the creek to get around an inlet and when I got back to it I saw my BIL on the other bank bent over, hands on his knees, huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath. We had sprinted about half a mile by this point. And almost right next to him was the Dragon caught in swirling pool, not moving downstream anymore. But he hadn't seen it (I think his brain was starved for oxygen at that point). I shouted for him to fish it out. But he couldn't hear me over the roar of the water. So with hand gestures I got him to see the disc. I was expecting him to get a branch and try to bring it to the bank. But instead he jumps in... water up to mid thigh ... and grabs the disc.

I don't remember if we played any more holes after that. But I do remember my wife being mad about the condition of our clothes that we were supposed to wear for a family dinner later that day. I'd like to say it was worth it, but not too long after that I figured out how to actually put some power into a throw and that Dragon became useless (way to understable). So I gave it away.

 

[HybridZombiw]

It was a relatively calm and albeit breezy afternoon, the sun was blazing and a tail wind was on my side. I was a still pretty green around the edges when i stepped up to the pad and selected a disliked and old champion Viking that was given away as a gift of being unwanted by the previous owner. The hole was about 250 feet with some trees scattered about in an open park. The basket rested on top of a small hill with a steep and sudden drop that was 15 feet away from a sidewalk and busy 4 lane street. As I threw, the throw was errant, the shot was too high, and the line was going past its intended target. Instead of parking it up against the basket, it flexed over the basket and landed in the middle of road. As i rushed over to asses the damage of not only being out, but potentially losing what few plastic i ever owned at the time, I saw it spinning like a quarter on a table passing through cars. After 5 minutes mid afternoon traffic, I attempted to retrieve my viking that had ended up over the median and onto the other side of the road. I never did give credit to how valuable it was until that afternoon. It was covered with two sets of tire tracks and ran over more than 4 times. From that moment on it had a distinct crescent shaped tire mark on the translucent orange flight plate. I guess all it took was a few roadkill attempts and a couple of hard hits to break it in and fly better than it ever had before. After that incident the Viking was one of my go to drivers, and saw a lot more action. Where ever it is now, i'm sure its in a better place now lost to the ages in an epic tale.

 

[AceOnBase]

My home course, Johnson Road Park, in Germantown, TN has 8 of its 18 holes over or around 2 giant ponds. I'll admit that the way I got my first discs were by wading with my buddy Jason and feeling for discs with our bare feet. Some had ink and some did not, but this was before I knew of the good samaritan approach of calling the number on the back. We found probably 20 discs in 3 days with most of our haul being DX Beasts, Destroyers, and Lightning discs for some unknown reason.

The next time we went wading, Jason stepped on a sewage pipe that had rusted and had a huge gash all of the way down the side of his foot. The blood around him immediately reminded me of Jaws as it tainted the murky brown water with bright red human juice. He went to the emergency room and had to get stitched up, given a Tetanus shot and antibiotics, because who knows what kind of bacteria lives in that pond.

Needless to say, we no longer wade in the pond, and after several ****ty attempts at DIYing our own lake rake, we now buy all of our own plastic. Some may call it karma that this happened for not calling back the rightful disc owners, and I think they may be right.

If I win one of the Disc Gators, I will give it to Jason, 1, because he is so much worse than me, and 2, because he's my discing buddy and will always be there to get my discs out.

Thanks for reading!

 

[trumbulldore]

Walked out in the middle of a icy lake to retrieve my friends CE Eagle when I was 12...Almost broke through the ice(it was cracking on my way back)..That or Climbing a 70ft pine tree and getting to the top and shaking the tree to recover my lat64 River.....Good times...Good. Dumb. Times.

 

[Disc Gator]

First trip to Maple Hill in Leicester, MA, with a couple friends, one of whom got me started in the sport. We walk up to the first hole, which has a fairly big pond to throw over. My buddy steps up, and first throw - right in the pond. He's not happy, but pulls out a 2nd disc to try again, this time his favorite driver (Raging Inferno). Again, right into the pond. At that point my other friend decides to be crazy enough jump in after them (it was a cold day, and first hole - the rest of us didn't want to suffer all day). Twenty minutes later he's pulled 3 discs from the water, none of them ours. After that, he gave up and we never saw that Raging Inferno again.

Later on in the day, the same friend tried another risky shot by water, and lost a 3rd disc. He was so pissed that day.

Hello
This is the course (hole six) that inspired me to create the Disc Gator.
please note who wins the contest is not up to me.

 

[clcastellaw]

Disc Retrieval

My favorite disc retrieval story happened just last week. I have been living in Iowa for the past 3 years and this winter has been wicked cold. So with a forcasted day of mid 40 degree weather we couldn't pass it by without some disc golf. There is still snow on the ground and half the tee pads were unplayable due to snow and ice but it was awesome. Going into hole 10 at Centennial park you can shoot a gap in the trees over the creek or you can play it safe and throw around the creek. I challenged my friend to shoot the gap and sure enough he hits an "invisible branch" hits the side of bank and down into the ice melt stream. I cant stop laughing because I knew this would happen. He goes down the steepest part slipping and sliding in the mud all the way up to his ankles. I swear he was going to fall in but holding onto a couple of roots and using the longest branch I could find for him he managed to pull his Boss out of the creek. I think he will have to throw away his shoes but any day you get to play disc golf and don't lose a disc is a good day. A disc gator would have been so much easier, but we wouldn't have had such a good story.